Monday, February 4, 2008

Confronting some of my own paralysis in knowing where to start, I've decided to plow into my favorite year, 1973. For most seasoned Deadhead tape collectors, the Fall-Winter of '73 reigns supreme. I, on the other hand, am far more partial to the Summer. For me, everything from late May to early September is pure gold. During this time, the band was locking into a jazzy/spacey groove unlike any other period. For whatever reason, this particular "zone" really does it for me.

One of the early Betty Boards put into circulation around 1997, the clean and beautiful SBD suffers from a reel ending death at a most painful moment. Patched poorly with a crusty copy of the AUD for years, this was a complete AUD that remained hidden from mainstream circulation. I finally had the extreme pleasure of hooking up with a guy who held onto a reel copy of Don Amick's complete recording. Sitting up near the front, Don spread his mics 15+ seats apart and captured the very essence of the 1973 sound system within a large venue in surprisingly nice stereo.

Your ears will quickly tune up and settle into this recording, as welcoming as they come from 1973 AUDs. The unmistakable warm tone of the entire band in this part of the year oozes through. This tape is the "sound of 1973," and deserves a place in everyone's collection.

The show has that relaxed, somewhat lazy pace of good 1973 shows, yet the energy soars in all the right places. Stand out versions of many tunes including Bird Song, Playin', Here Comes Sunshine, and the hall of fame colossal Truckin'>Nobody's Jam>Phil Jam>Jam>Other One>Space>Other One jam in set two.

17 comments:

I've been listening to this show a lot lately, a soundboard with patches I recently downloaded from one of the torrent sites. At the point in the great jam where the board is patched I was really amazed at how wonderful the aud sounded. To hear the audience screaming along with the spacy parts is just great. However as nice as aud tapes are, they aren't something you listen to others. It's mostly a solitary pursuit since it requires so much concentration sometimes.

Along with 6-24-70, this is my favorite China>Rider. The way Phil cues up each of Jerry's licks is wonderful. This was one of the very first 1973 tapes I ever got, back around 1992 or so. The SBD has a huge dropout in the Rider (I think the whole "north bound train" verse is missing) and I was thrilled to get the AUD.

I too have always considered mid-year a high point in one of the Dead's most consistently superb years. 6/22/73 PNE is certainly one of the year's top 5 shows--excerpts of which I customarily use to introduce folks to the band. Despite the brilliance of set II, it's hard to get there for all the replays of cracklin' set I tunes that you've got to hear.

I agree with one of the earlier posters - top 5 show/tape for sure. The jam out of Truckin' is incredible - one of their best, not typical by any means... Sure there are plenty of Phil solos from this period, but this one is great, and any opportunity to hear Keith come to the fore with his envelope-filtered Wurl vibe is def. worth seeking out... I love extended Keith solos - you can hear how great a player he was - chops to burn... He just wasn't on every night, and therefore couldn't be reliably showcased on a regualr basis, but when he was you've got very trippy and funky playing going down...Kudos to this Blog.

What an upgrade to my original tape! My brother came home from freshman year in college with a box of bootlegs. While the sound was hissy, this was one of my favorite tapes.

As an inexperienced taper, this is one of the first shows that I copied -- using a dual well deck and a Maxell UL90 in 1990 (long before I purchased two single well decks, upgraded to XLII's, and learned to set levels properly).

One of the best shows EVER. If you haven't heard this show, it'll blow your mind. The jamming reached in places like Bird Song, the Truckin Up to BC Jam, and Other One is ethereal. It's all just ON. Dive into Summer '73. It's where it's at, man.

To the author: I understand this was your first '73 entry, but you should really go back and give this show the same detailed, exquisite treatment you gave 06/30/73. We would all love to hear more of your insights on the 6/22 show. Write on! ...& long live Summer '73. Oh and by the way, when's the 06/24/73 (Portland, OR) post coming? Dark Star>Eyes>China Doll exemplifies what was happening that June perfectly. Some of the best stuff ever laid down.

I forget what the genesis was that made me want to download this show - must've been the comments on the bt site about it. Anyway I did and the only thing I've heard so far is Big River (great), Ten Jed (horrible), Playin (extremely excellent), and Here Comes Sunshine (extremely excellent).

I'm about to engage in the section of this show that everyone seems most excited about: Truckin > big long jam with lots of goodies.

I just LOVE this audience tape! You can even hear Phil really well which, in my experience, is not common in aud tapes.

Anyway, really looking forward to the ride! I'll report back on my impressions.

Well I gave it a listen and I'm here to report the portion of the show from Truckin to the end of the show is beyond-words great (an obvious understatement to those familiar with it).

It almost reminds me of a '74 jam (like the 6-28-74 Mind Left Body jam outta Weather Report).

The intensity of the playing by the whole band (including a very prominent role by Keith during parts of it including the lead instrument where he sounds excellent, Phil also does some great lead work) during that long jam is something quite extraordinary (to say the least!).

The only thing that underwhelmed me was the Sugar Mag jam - as if Garcia was just too exhausted and overwhelmed with what had come prior to that to have much left - though that didn't prevent Weir and Donna from taking the Sunshine Daydream part to another incredible level to end the second set.

The encores are Casey Jones and JBG. I liked Casey Jones but really dug the JBG - an interesting jam by Jerry on it (I dig his spacy tone).

I was not familiar with Summer '73 Dead shows before this one. I think I need more of it!

This AUD tape is soooo fat and rounded off. It really captures the inside feel of this show. There was nowhere where the sound was not. I've only listeeded to one or two other '73 shows, but I am agreement in the lazy goodness this year exudes.

Always have some love for Bird Song. Seems like most of the songs I love to hear are in this show. Black Peter is stellar in this show. I mean you can hear the glow of the tube amps come out of the speakers. Nice clean sounds that are lovely to behold. Not sure what effect Bobby is using in this tune sounds like 3-D chorus or something. !!! "See here how everything lead up to this day and it's just like any other day that has ever been...!!!" No harmonies, nothing but just Jerry's voice telling the tale. Just lovely.. Just lovely..

I just downloaded this show and I noticed that this AUD you direct us to is missing China Cat in front of Rider. I suppose I could just grab China Cat from the SBD, but i'd rather have the same recording and keep the vibe going. Do you know why this is missing from the stream/download? Also, there's a * next to Playin and Nobody's Jam, and two ** next to Sunshine. Do these mean anything? I noticed you're the one who encoded this show so I figured you'd have insight. Thank you much. :)

Fantastic. Thank you. Since the AUD is missing I decided to just grab China Cat from Charlie Miller's upload of the show. I find his SBD's are always super stellar, but the AUD sounds so great and gives that extra feeling of the show that I'd rather have that for most of it, but Miller's China Cat does help complete it for me. Very beautiful and I'm glad to have it, even if it's not the AUD. And the cut of when Rider starts on the AUD is very close to when China Cat ends on Miller's board so it doesn't even sound too bad.As always, thanks for the help.

Mikey

Also, I understand if you haven't gotten around to it, but I figured I'd just check to see if you've gotten any answers about 1/22 & 1/23 1968 being 26 & 27. If not, no worries. When you do though I'd love to know what you find. :) mhoniotes19@gmail.com

wow! ive been slowly acclimating myself to this incredible performance and i am impressed to say the least. the quality of the AUD still amazes me everytime i put it on. i overheard the he's gone>truckin passage in one of your podcasts and i knew i had to download the show. this show is one of many shows in my 1973 obsession lately. ive also got a soft spot for 77 and ive been trying to uncover other gems from that year, may 8th and 9th being two that ive loved for a long time. any suggestions? great work and thanks for your dedication! - peter